Jeanne Moreau is inseparable from the cult song from the film Jules et Jim, Le Tourbillon de la vie. Here is the story of this song.
Full freedom in her love life
In this song, written and composed in 1957 by her friend Serge Rezvani, under the pseudonym of Cyrus Bassiak, she claims full freedom in her love life. This song will be made famous by the film, a love trio formed by two crazy great friends of the same woman (Jeanne Moreau). “It’s the story of a woman who hesitates between men, and decides to love them all”, summed up the actress. After the deprivations of war, Serge Rezvani signs songs that claim freedom and carelessness. For Jeanne Moreau, he wrote and composed “songs as light as butterfly wings”, including the famous Tourbillon and J’ai la mémoire qui flanche.
A woman who hesitates between men
Le Tourbillon de la vie tells the tumultuous love story of the actress and her first husband, Jean-Louis Richard, with whom she had a son. She was destined to remain in the private circle. In 1961, new wave filmmaker François Truffaut asked Serge Rezvani if he could include this song in his film Jules et Jim. This famous film by Truffaut tells of a love triangle formed by two crazy great friends of the same woman who cannot choose between the two… This woman is precisely played by Jeanne Moreau. The words of the whirlwind of life stick completely with the atmosphere and the scenario of the feature film, “a woman who hesitates between men, and decides to love them all. Serge plays in the film Albert, a supporting role.
Performed by Vanessa Paradis
The shooting of the film stopped 24 hours following budget problems and the crash of a helicopter technician. During this interruption, the director decides to bring in a sound engineer to record the song. Jeanne performs Le tourbillon de la vie accompanied by Serge Rezvani on the guitar. According to the actress, the take he chose to keep wasn’t the fairest musically or lyrically. But it was the one where we perceived the most life. In 1995, Vanessa Paradis performed Le Tourbillon at the Cannes Film Festival in front of Jeanne Moreau, president of the jury, who sang with her. A magnificent duo, a suspended moment of grace and emotion, before the whirlwind of life resumes.
